time flies when your are having fun

{july 19, 2010}

i was leaving work

when kenneth called

and said,

"how do you feel about living in italy?"

it's hard to believe

that it's been a year

i was looking back at some of my old posts

and

so much has changed in this year

the obvious

i'm in italy

many friends have welcomed {new additions }

to their famileis

we've said goodbye to a {beloved pup }

we've met { new friends }

and

i've learned a lot about {myself} 

would i do italy all over again

yes

and i wouldn't change the headaches

the tears

the moments where i felt like i was going crazy

for anything

i've had many 'favorite posts'

over the year

which i've included

for your reading pleasure

{ford vs ledge}

{my affair} 

{how to get a dog to pee in a cup}

{oh no he didn't}

happy year of blogging anniversary to me

thank you for reading

and

tolerating my moments of insanity

moments when i think i can cook

and

moments when i just feel

like babbling



cowboy leftovers to pasta cuisine

last night i made 

{the pioneer woman's cowboy calzone} 

it's a great reciepe

and i highly recommend it

and i had some of the 

meat mixture

left over

today

i didn't want calazone

and didn't want to throw out the meat

so 

i thought

and thought

opened my cabinets

to see what 

if any groceries i had

today is the must go grocery shopping

or starve to death day

and

i saw this

  and thought

"hmmm... backed penne with cowboy calazone meat mixture..

sure...

why not"

so 

i cooked the pasta

you know

boil water, add pasta, cook 8-10 minutes, drain water

if i can make pasta without looking at directions

so can you

used my 8x8 pan

you can use a 9x13 but

i didn't have that much meat to cover a 9x13 

layer it

meat, noodles, meat, noodles, etc

top with parmasean

and shredded mozzarella

place it in the oven

i did 350*F for 20 minutes

and

voila!

you have a new dish

made with leftovers

and 

it wasn't half bad either!

i would definitely make it again if i had left overs from cowboy calazones     

 

 

thankful thursday: it's her birthday!

because

during our chat this week

she said

"i miss your baking blogs"

wow! really! someone reads them?!

because

cupcakes make me happy

because

she loves summer

and these are the perfect summer cupcakes

because i have new kitchen island

just waiting to get dirty!

and because

{kristi's}

birthday is today

i tackled a new recipe

{fluffy lime cupcakes with lime frosting}

yum.

first like any good american

cooking in italy

open a bottle of wine!

now we are ready to bake!!

mix your dry ingredients

the flour, baking powder, and salt

set that aside

and whisk four egg whites and buttermilk together

set that aside

prepare your lime zest

remember

{this}

yep, the grater still scares me

grate away

then step back and take a moment to smell the aroma in your kitchen

lime smells delicious, fresh, crisp!

now pull out your stand mixer!

i'm going to digress here so bear with me!

or skip down three pictures

pull out my mixer?!?

in italy i have yet to use my stand mixer

mainly because it ain't easy 

and counter space was limited

but now i have a new island!

so i lug out the 2000 watt transformer

it's heavy and ugly

so i usually hide it

i mean who wants to answer the question 

"what's the theme of your kitchen"

with

"electrical conversion equipment"?

then i found my stand mixer

plugged it in to the transformer

and prayed i didn't blow the breaker

success!

i still have lights after turning it on!

ok back to the cupcakes!

add your sugar and lime zest in the stand mixture 

then blend it together

i used my hands it made my hands smell like lime all day

yum.

beat in your butter

 your lime juice

and your lime extract

disclaimer:

i could NOT find lime extract at the commissary

so i squeezed some of the lime from the lime zest into the batter

then 

the recipe breaks down how to add in your dry mixture 

and your egg/milk mixture that you set aside

honestly 

because i'm not good in math

and i become overly anxious

wondering if i added in 1/3 or 1/4 

i just alternated adding in the two different mixtures

a little dry, then a little of the wet, a little more of the dry

well you get the idea

and after it's all combined

it looks something like this

this is where i do the 

"make sure it doesn't kill you"

taste test

really i just like batter

and trust me folks!

this is good batter!!

before you eat all the batter 

remember you have to make cupcakes

so fill those cupcake pans

put it in the good ol' oven at 350 for about 18-20 minutes

or until they look like this

and your kitchen smells heavenly!

while they cool

and trust me you want the cool before you frost them

i tried rushing the frosting bit 

and it melted off the cupcake

i'm impatient i wanted to eat one!

make your frosting

and you get to use your stand mixer again!!

yay!!

take your chilled heavy whipping cream

and 

whip it with the balloon whisk attachment

until it has a peak

this takes a little while

be patient

then add your sugar

and lime zest

the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of sugar

i didn't like the consistency of the frosting 

so i 

added another 1/2 tablespoon

and still not pleased

i remembered that

{the pioneer woman}

uses powdered sugar a lot in frostings

so i added 1/2 tablespoon

a minute later

i was pleased

then ice your cupcakes

and garnish with more lime zest 

or fresh lime slices

and enjoy.

i will say this

the cupcakes were a little dry for me

this could be baker error

but next time

i might try a stick and a half of butter

i'm not a professional

i'm a trial and error kind of gal

and 

i know anything with butter is usually very moist

so why not try more butter?!

 so for my dear friend

kristi

happy birthday

i am so thankful that you are in my life

i wish i was there to enjoy your day with you

i miss you 

and will see you very soon!!!

roma

so i finally did it

a month and a half later

i uploaded my pictures from rome 

to my computer

now

if i only had time to edit all 700 plus photos

but alas 

i must work

so here are some of my favorite

actually a minimal amount of my favorites

due to the slooooow internet in my little italian village

if i haven't said it before

i will say it now

i love the colosseum 

it amazes me!

a candid moment of two of my favorite people

trevi fountain

another one of my favorite places in rome

a simple picture

yet it's one of my favorite

traditionally 

i am not a 'big-city' kind of gal

but 

there is something about rome

that i love

and 

despite it being a large city

i find myself 

dreaming about living in an apartment

looking over the trevi fountain

and

spending countless hours 

walking the streets

finding new wonders

and 

eating a lot of gelato!

more rome pictures to come soon! 

promise!

mail call!!!

you get the piece of paper in your mailbox 

that says

"please go pick up your parcel"

actually it's quite rude and says

"first notice"

you anxiously wait in line

with all the other hopefuls

you check facebook

you text whoever you think will listen

you do something to make the time go buy

then 

its your turn

you hand your "notice" over

and the mail clerk

slowly walks around

acting like he or she just started yesterday

and you wanna scream

"come on man! get my stuff! don't you know today is my day! i got a package"

then you get not one

but two boxes

woo-hoo

and it isn't dog food food!

yes we mail order our dog food

the pups have to have their special food

spoiled yes

and in those boxes

clothes!

a book!

 goodies!

and

coupons!

support the military!

find a military family living overseas,

send them your expired coupons!

all for you!

nothing, nada, zilch for the pups

ok, i admit i am jealous the dogs get more boxes than i do

my dad

sends me boxes routinely!

filled with magazines

snacks

tidbits of stuff

to make me feel like i'm still stateside

but today

was clothes

and i need clothes

but 

i was surprised with the bottle of cream soda

from pops

that had the whale in oklahoma on it

we use drive past that whale during family vacations

and the book

"think"

this book is hilarious

and just what i needed

after last month!

so thank you daddy

for all the time

money

and thought

you put into the boxes

they make my life just a little bit easier.

how many blondes does it take to change a lightbulb?

remember

{my mission}

well 

today

actually the past few weeks

i've been trying to change a light bulb

seriously folks, don't laugh!

but my kitchen light went out three weeks ago

thankfully 

it is summer so it stays light outside longer

and

i have a big window in my kitchen

my first attempt was to buy this

it's circular

and i knew the lightbulb at home was circular

and it was the only circular light bulb at the store

this was the wrong choice

the wrong 15 euro choice mind you

that's equivalent to about 18-20 american dollars

so i thought i would do the smart thing

and take the light bulb down

only to find 

that it has a battery!

this is my ah-ha moment

but then i forgot to take the battery to the store

at the store i had two options

and since both were relatively inexpensive

i bought both

and 

again

fail!

sorta

the battery fit

but the light just flickered

so 

kenneth said

"hun, i think it's the light bulb"

emphasizing light bulb

so i did the thing i should have done to begin with

i took the light bulb out

took it to another store

and 

found it!

however,

when i got home

opened the box

i realized it didn't come with batteries

but wait!

remember i had already bought some

and 

guess what

they fit!!

yay!!!

with a click of a switch 

i had light!

and 

to answer the question

it only takes one blonde to change a lightbulb

one very persistent blonde

bierengel

when the restaurant decor looks like this

and this

love this table

the menu looks like this

and most importantly

they serve beer like this

you would think

i'm in germany

but my friends

we found 

{bierengel}

"beer angel"

 now my vino love 

must compete with my husband's 

love for beer

who will spend more nights being dd

that is to be determined

another great evening

with friends

and 

wonderful food

in italy!

thankful thursday...hope

i said it yesterday

and i am going to say it today

and probably tomorrow

and the next day

june sucked

and after every disappointment

i would find something

to hope for

to try and remain optimistic

and 

i thought hoping

was helping

but

a part of me 

wanted to throw up my hands 

and 

scream

"really!!! not again!!!"

but

the good news

is 

i still have a roof over my head

that has amazing views!

food in my belly

good food at that!

pups who think i'm the best thing since the dog bone

i think they are biased

i am the hand that feeds them

and

friends

old and new 

love group skype!!

and they threw up their hands and said "really?!?" for me!

so 

bring it on july

june may have roughed me up

but 

i still got hope!